With Halo 3, a lot of the balancing issues have been fixed, as others have mentioned. The community features are nothing short of spectacular and there's really only one thing that prevents Halo 3 from being my hands-down favorite - the matchmaking. The forge is fantastic, but boils down to a novelty as it can only be played as a custom game with friends. Why weren't unranked multiplayer games designed to take advantage of it? For that matter, why can't I search for custom games others have designed and hop into one? With all these tools to make awesome new modes, it would be great if there was a better way to take advantage of them.

Dave: The community experience is an area that is legitimately an upgraded version of the Halo 2 setup. The overall experience is more integrated this time around with the excellent additions of Co-op and The Forge. To say that online accessibility is best implemented in Halo 3 is a statement of the obvious, but has the multiplayer gameplay changed for the better?

Halo 1 tightly balanced between mid-range, long-range, and close-range weaponry. Perhaps its only downfall was that pros were too powerful with the pistol and sniper rifle. The second game brought combat closer to the player with dual wielding and in turn made most combat simply holding down both triggers and running towards a foe. I stated in the last grudge match that I preferred this game for its accessibility to the masses and not just the talented hardcore crowd. But I also think this mass appeal approach leads to diluted gameplay. Not to mention that Halo 2 had its own unbalanced elements like unstoppable vehicles and the sword.

Once again For Halo 3 the effectiveness of some weapons have been dulled to even things out. The pistol is deadly but lacks a zoom, the sword has a shorter lock-on range, SMGs are useless. Imbalances will be revealed, but that's the beauty of the forge and stat tracking: the fans are in control of the tools at hand. And as Bungie demonstrated when they increased the strength of grenades through a download in Halo 2, they aren't against tweaking the rules after release.

So after the fans sort out the best modes, Halo 3 will be the top multiplayer experience. However, neither of the sequels can compare to the fine tuned combat in the first game.

Mark: The campaign has never been my reason for playing Halo. I fell for Halo because of its multiplayer, and to this day I regard the original Halo as my favorite game for more than two people. I had high hopes for Halo 2 and I was pretty vocal about being disappointed by it. The weapon balancing in Halo 2 is just rotten, and I hated the game for it.

Halo 3, thankfully, corrects many of the issues I had with Halo 2's balancing. Dual wielding spray-and-pray is a much less effective tactic in Halo 3 multiplayer, thanks mostly to increased damage from melee attacks and grenades. It may seem like a pair of minor adjustments, but changing melee and grenade damage goes a long way to making the multiplayer more skill-based and less like rolling dice.

Some other minor adjustments that I like include a more consistent shotgun, removing the lock-on of the rocket launcher, toning down the sword, and the return of the pistol (though I've yet to really figure out its effectiveness).

These adjustments make Halo 3 a significantly better multiplayer game than was Halo 2, but I still think the game is weak compared to Halo: Combat Evolved. Though the sword is nerfed a bit, I still wish it wasn't in the game. The vehicles are still overpowered against foot soldiers, especially the flying vehicles that make me want smash my television whenever I see someone flying them. Why don't the vehicles flip and dump out the drivers and passengers when nailed by a grenade? And I still feel there's a lack of a good all-around starting weapon. Starting off with the assault rifle stinks, as you automatically lose to people that've picked up better weapons.

Despite the remaining issues I have with Halo 3 multiplayer, I'm actually enjoying it, which is more than I expected. It's still not as good as the first game, but the balancing is decent enough that I can enjoy Bungie's awesome online setup.

Nate: Multiplayer gaming is a step above what Halo 2 and Halo 1 offered, both from a features standpoint and based on my overall enjoyment. Not only do you have co-op, which the first two games offered, but you also have four-player co-op. It really doesn't get much better than that. Toss in the stellar matchmaking with the new maps that the game brings and the plethora of play lists and modes and you've got the best gaming experience on Xbox 360 for the time being.

Oh, and then there's The Forge and the Video Editor. As if there wasn't enough to do within Halo 3 Bungie also decided to include a mountain of icing on top of their scrumptious cake. I haven't even started messing around with Forge and have only browsed around a few of my videos from the campaign. Basically what I'm trying to say is that I'm going to be playing Halo 3 for months and months to come.